Ground engaging vehicles having a blade are often utilized to move and sculpt a surface layer of earth. Motor graders in particular are used as finishing tools in putting a finish grade on a layer of gravel, stone, earth or other aggregate material. Motor graders include a blade, which can be also referred to as a moldboard or implement. The blade moves aggregate from side to side and smoothes the aggregate and/or earth material generally in multiple passes thereover. Adjusting the blade to accomplish the task includes several aspects of blade attitude, such as the cutting angle, the height of the blade, the blade side shift and a draw bar side shift. Several hand controls are utilized to operate the multiple blade and grader adjustments.
Conventionally, articulated motor graders include a fore and aft extending mainframe that is supported on wheels. The rear portion of the mainframe is articulated and is connected to an engine frame supported on traction wheels. At the rear end of the mainframe an operator station is mounted including controls for steering and adjusting of the various components of the motor grader. A saddle structure is often mounted for suspendably supporting the ground engaging blade through linkages connected to hydraulic cylinders or by way of a direction connection of hydraulic cylinders. During the grading operation blade loads are transmitted to a draw bar that is connected to the front portion of the main frame. The load created by the movement of the blade against the aggregate is transferred to the forward section of the mainframe.
The operator controls allow for the positioning not only of the blade but the selection of the speed and direction of the grader while it is under operation. Grading of the aggregate is often a repetitive process requiring the readjustment of several variables multiple times to similar if not identical positions.
What is needed in the art is a system to assist the operator in repetitively adjusting the controls of the grader system.